just fall | ✓

26.

That night, Gia, Bellissa, and I snuck down to my room after dinner, which we all had picked at. Salvatore had called for a bath to be waiting in my room and to have no maids to attend me, so my room was empty and silent as a tomb and a tub full of hot water was seated inside. Gia helped me deal with my dress while Bellissa hurried around, tossing some of my things into a suitcase, picking and choosing her favorite gowns and leaving some others hanging in the closet. 

Once I was clean and dressed in a nightgown, Bellissa checked the time before taking the suitcase and dragging it out of the room after giving me a hug and a kiss to my cheek. She said something to Gia before she left, and Gia locked the door after her.

We sat on my bed and talked, comparing childhoods and lives. I told her all about the Selection; she told me all about the other royal families and her future husband, one of the princes of Swendway.

Immediately following the Report, there was a knock on the door. Gia whipped a small knife out of somewhere and moved cautiously towards the door, shooting me a look as she did.

But it was just Aquia, mascara running down her cheeks and ruining her perfect makeup. "Is she in there?" She asked, voice cracking. "I need to see her, please. I promise I'm not here for Mason or Clara or Alexander, please."

Gia put away the knife and opened the door, letting her in. Aquia sprinted across the room and threw herself into my arms, breaking down in tears. "You can't leave!" She cried. "You can't! You're my best friend, you can't leave me!"

"Relax," I said. "I'll see you again. I'm going to Italy."

"I c-can't believe you're marrying Salvatore!"

"What?" Gia and I exchanged a look.

She pulled away enough to wipe at her eyes and glared at me. "I can't believe you're leaving Alexander for Salvatore, Cassiana! How could you?"

"Gross." Gia grimaced and rolled her eyes. "She's not marrying my brother, you halfwit. We're her famiglia. She's our cousin!"

Aquia wiped more at her face. "But...but the others were saying that you were having an affair with Salvatore, and –"

"And they heard that from Celine because she saw Salvatore and I in the gardens. He was explaining to me how we're related."

"Oh." She attacked me with another hug. "I'm so sorry for believing them! But you can't leave Alexander, he loves you!"

"Not enough," Gia grumbled. "If he loved her so much, he wouldn't have believed Celine over her." She began cursing in Italian.

"What she said," I agreed. "He can't love me that much."

"But he does, Cassiana," Aquia insisted, sinking onto my bed. "You have to believe me."

"I don't, and I don't care about how he feels. He should've considered that before he accused me of having an affair."

"So you're going, then?"

I nodded. "I'm going."

"But what will you do there?"

"She'll be a princess and do as she pleases," Gia said. "Don't worry, you'll see her again. I can't say the same for your future family, but you will. I promise."

Aquia sighed and looked at me. "Must you go?"

I nodded again. "This is no place for me, and I can't be with Alexander. I love him, but I can't be with someone that doesn't trust me enough to ignore what a schemer has to say." Helpfully, I add, "I'll miss you."